Red Shoe Sunday
by Patent-Pending
Summary: An Icy wind blows. Ranma finds himself unsure, and with only a few people at his back, he must confront his latest problem head on.
1. Chapter One

A.N. This is an angsty story. It is meant to be a tummy-tumbler. Please tell me if I'm doing a good enough job or not. Flames will be put in the bonfire.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma Nibunnoichi

Red Shoe Sunday

Morning had broken over Nermia. Though most of the denizens were still asleep, Kasumi had woken up early to finish her chores. She was glad she convinced Nabiki to buy a tumbling dryer for winter. Suddenly she heard doors shifting around upstairs.

"I wonder who's up at this hour?" she muttered aloud, turning back to the meal. She was cooking flapjacks for the family, and she needed more time for this than their normal meal.

"BAKA!"

"KAWAIKUNE!"

"HENTAI!"

"STUPID!" Kasumi sighed, and began counting.

_Five, Four, Three -_ however, take off happened early today, Akane belting Ranma out his window and his head bouncing off of the frozen koi pond. Kasumi sighed again. Ranma had been so much kinder to everyone as of late. Even Nabiki was returning the favor, albeit in a slow manner.

"WHAT ON EARTH WAS THAT FOR!"

"ANSWER MY QUESTION! WHERE IS MY UNDERWEAR!"

"IN YOUR DRAWER MAYBE!"

"ALL OF IT IS GONE! PERVERT! GIVE IT BACK NOW!" Kasumi's ears were a nice shade of pink. She had taken all of Akane's underwear for washing the previous night, and had obviously forgotten to tell Akane.

"WHY DON'T YOU CHECK THE OLD MAN'S ROOM! OR ASK KASUMI IF SHE'S CLEANING THEM!"

"WHY NOT YOU! YOU'RE HAPPOSAI'S STUDENT! PERVERT-IN-TRAINING!" Akane's following hammer-assisted uppercut sent Ranma flying over the house, and into the street, promptly landing in some new fallen snow.

"Ranma! Please come inside before you catch a cold." Ranma sighed resignedly.

"Coming Kasumi." Ranma darted inside and went back to his room. He grabbed a shirt that was a little different then his normal ones - instead of red-silk, these were green and very wooly, appropriate for winter. Dressing in similar black fleece pants, he headed downstairs for breakfast.

Barring an accident, Ranma was going to try and stay male for the entire day. However, as fate would have it, Nabiki had chosen this morning to have chocolate milk in place of her normal coffee. Along with a glass of ice water.

"Oops! Sorry Ranma!" Nabiki said, a laugh in her voice.

"Yeah, Yeah. Can I finish my breakfast now?" He said. Ranma had learned that sitting next to Genma was a nearly fatal flaw. Besides, the old man was having problems spearing pancakes with chopsticks.

The walk to school was fairly uneventful. Ranma was running along the fence in deep thought. He was developing new techniques for his style in his head, and was hoping for a good opponent that didn't want to kill to test them against.

He'd never have guessed that a near-fatal battle would be what it would take to test these out.

"DIE RANMA!" Ryouga popped out of nowhere, as he normally did. Nabiki backed off, not wanting to get hurt. There was a small crowd coming a few yards from Furinkan to see who Ranma was fighting now.

For all the world, with every passing battle, Ryouga's body always seemed to get tougher, almost like the boy was a friggin' tank. Ranma's wrist had been dislocated once punching the Lost Boy. Now, it felt like titanium.

"HAHA! You'll never triumph against my Iron Body Technique!" Ryouga said, throwing several brutal punches Ranma's way. However, the last blow hit Ranma, and sent the boy tumbling for two reasons. One, it was **_COLD_** this morning, and his reflexes were suffering from it. Two, Ryouga seemed to have grown since their last fight, because his arms were longer. Ranma stood up, winced a bit, and spat out some blood. Nabiki clicked, but smiled, knowing most people weren't anticipating their star to take any blows.

Ryouga charged, a sickly green aura piping up around his arm. Ranma's eyes widened and he brought up his own blue aura to make a counter.

"SHI-SHI HOKODAN!"

"MOUKO TAKABISHI!" The resulting explosion threw both competitors into the walls. Ryouga's new technique ensured that he escaped with little more than scrapes and bruises. However, the dust cloud that was made obscured everyone's vision of Ranma.

"Will Ranma get up? 10 to 1 says that this is the end of his winning stre-" Ranma's voice had taken on an almost deadly tone.

"Nabiki. Shut the hell up. NOW." Nabiki quickly shut her mouth, not wanting to face an angry Ranma. The cloud dispersed, letting people see what had happened to the boy. He was currently slumped against the wall. His shirt was in tatters, numerous oozing gashes on his chest. His cheek had a particularly nasty cut, one that would be there for some time. However, the worst part was that his left arm seemed a bit .. mangled, for lack of a better term. It was almost twisted inwards, and bent at an angle that seemed completely inhuman. Ranma stood up, and stumbled, before landing face down in the snow.

"Akane, help me ..." Ranma said to the nearby girl. However, her expression soured, obviously displeased by what Ranma had said.

"That's what you get for picking on poor Ryouga!" Ranma was stunned. She still thought that he was picking on Ryouga?

"No, Akane, I -"

"Don't give me your excuses, pervert. I don't want to hear them." Akane slung herself underneath Ryouga's arm, carrying the boy through the Furinkan gates. Even Nabiki was slack jawed at her sister's cold treatment of the boy.

"You hate me ..." He said, slumping just a little. Akane had gotten Ryouga to the point where he could stand by wall-assist she marched back over to Ranma, intent on teaching him a lesson.

She never got the chance. All of a sudden, when she was within range, Ranma's eyes darkened, and screamed, if you could call a banshee wail screaming,

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Ranma's right arm came careening out of nowhere, and hit Akane in the chin, sending the girl spinning to the ground. When she quickly adjusted her sitting position, she looked up, frightened.

"You want me to freeze, don't you? Out here in the cold winter, with my wounds oozing and aching, my very blood freezing on my arm. But of course, you choose not to help the one in need. Ryouga could have gotten up any time he wanted. You just ignored me." Ryouga began to chuckle.

"So, how far are you willing to fall, Saotome? Hitting women? What's next Ra-" He was cut off by a savage kick to the chin from Ranma. The boy kicking grabbed an icicle, and yelled

"WINTER SABRE!" The Icicle changed shape into a magnificent sword, the hilt resting nicely in his hand. He took a swing at Ryouga.

It made a nice hole in his shirt. And chest. Ryouga cluched the stinging wound. He suddenly noticed the temperature beginning to drop.

"Catch this if you can. FREEZEBURN!" Ranma's battlecry heralded a wind so strong, that it knocked the Lost Boy over. Layers of ice began forming on his skin, the ice biting at his skin.

To say Ranma was pissed was just a little off. Sure, he was angry, but mostly, this ferocity was generated from a sense of dissapointment. Dissapointment in that Akane hated him. His love hated him. And he would never get over this first hurdle, not without killing something first. However, Ranma's honor stopped the boy from killing the other.

"So, verily I make battle with the evil Sorcerer SaoTOME!" Kuno's sudden spike in volume was the fact that Ranma had placed chi into his hand, and had literally flicked Kuno away. When Ranma got to his homeroom, Ms. Hinako began to scold him, but he interrupted her.

"Ms. Hinako, I am going to see Dr. Tofuu about this injury. If you wish to keep me, beaten and bloody in your classroom, let it hang on your shoulders should my arm never work again." Ms. Hinako was frightened. The child hadn't drained anyone today, so she wasn't in her taller, more authoritative form.

Not that it would have worked against the transformed Ranma.

Nabiki was reflecting upon her day. First, Ranma had been seriously injured in his morning battle with Ryouga. Then he chewed out Ms. Hinako and left, to see the one Ono Tofuu. Nabiki felt this little tingle in her stomach around lunchtime, and that tingle had now evolved into a full blown siren. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Ranma was proud, strong, arrogant, not cold, calculated and unforgiving. She had nearly wanted to jump into the air when he bit at her.

Nabiki walked up to Tofuu's clinic, and knocked on the door. Tofuu peered around it. It was like the man was afraid she was one of the crazies.

"Oh, good Nabiki, its you. If you're wondering about Ranma, he'll be couped up in here a couple of days. Here come inside, and don't bother removing your coat - Ranma's running like a full-blown air-conditioning system." It was the First time that she noticed that Dr. Tofuu was bundled up in a furry, eskimo jacket, and snowpants, along with fingered mittens and thick, leather-suede boots. Tofuu brought out a pair of steaming mugs.

"I have a question for you Nabiki." Nabiki looked at the man and nodded.

"Do you care for Ranma." Nabiki nearly spewed her hot cocoa out. Was the doctor asking her what she thought he was.

"Maybe I need to clarify. Would you miss Ranma if he left? Do you consider Ranma your friend? Can you see him and you getting along?"

Nabiki gave pause to that. The young buisnesswoman had taken for granted the fact that Ranma was here many times before. She had come to think of the boy as a sort of psudeo brother. Maybe she did care just a little.

"Why do you need to know?" Dr. Tofuu gave her a scrutinizing look before he spoke.

"I'll tell this to you. You are to tell no one else until I release him from my care. What I said originally at the door was to keep you at bay, just in case someone had sent you looking for him. Ranma could actually be spending a month or more with me." Nabiki's eyes widened at the extra information.

"His arm is in terrible condition. He can barely move it. It will take all of my Chiropractic knowledge, along with a few dozen Shiatsu charts, to fix his arm. Normally I'd let him go after that, but I'd be neglecting my duties as a psychiatric doctor.

"Ranma's psyche has been damaged. I do not know what happened in that battle with Ryouga, but suffice to say, he has become nearly completely withdrawn. He will not give an answer to anything but a yes or no question. And even then, sometimes I've had a hard time getting the boy to talk to me. Could you fill me in?" Nabiki scrunched her eyes closed. She really didn't want Ranma to break. Her family needed him.

And in that moment, she realized that she needed him too.

"In an indirect way, he found out that Akane hated him. However, his then situation had made him want to release some of his anger or something, because he decked my sister fairly hard with his good arm. She'll probably have a nice, black spot on her cheek for a while.

"And I think, he still loves her." Tofuu's eyes darkened.

"This will take more time then I thought. I need to trust you with another secret if this is going to work. Whenever Kasumi is around, she always seems to trigger something in my mind that makes me begin to act crazy, right? Well, through simple NLP (Neuro-Linguistics Programming), I've trained myself to release myself from that state of mind and back to my normal ones whenver someone snaps their fingers. I will need both yours, your sisters, and Ranma's two friends help. Tomorrow afternoon, could you all gather them here?"

"Yes, I can. But, can I speak to Ranma first?" Tofuu sighed.

"If you can get him to answer, then be my guess." Nabiki climbed the stairs to the long-term rooms, the ones where Tofuu kept overnight and three-day patients. Ranma was in the far back room. Nabiki had never seen anything like it quite before.

For being the World's Greatest Martial Artist, Ranma had change his demeanor quite a bit. He lay there on the bed, curled up and shivering. His pigtail had been let out, and his shoulder-length hair fanned out about him. Tofuu seemed to have cleaned his cuts, but not been able to put a shirt on the boy. The abusive scratched looked terribly painful, and probably felt worse. He lay there, in the cold, open air, with no jacket, no shirt, no socks, and no covers either.

"Hey, Ranma? Its me Nabiki." Ranma's head shot up at that. Up till then, she couldn't make out the boy's face. Now she saw what had been doing curled up like that. Over the deep gash on his cheek, Nabiki saw flush red tracts going down his face.

Ranma Saotome had been crying in the middle of below 0 temperatures. Nabiki flinched.

"Go away. I don't wanna see whoever sent you." While there were no hiccups or sobs, there was a great underlying tone of sadness. Nabiki moved to sit next to the boy. He flinched, and retreated several inched up the matress, away from her.

"No one sent me here to find you. I wanted to know what happened to you." Ranma said nothing, he just kept crying.

"Look, when Dr. Tofuu is finished fixing your arm, no matter what my sister says, you're welcome to come back. I would like to see you come back." Ranma's eyes flicked up and met hers. Nabiki reveled in their change. Before, Ranma's eyes could have been described as sea blue. Now, they were nearly an icy white.

"No." Nabiki felt a little bit of regret and a little bit of anger.

"Why not Ranma? Do explain yourself."

"It'll just be the same thing over again. Akane'll beat me, You, Dad, and Mr. Tendou will extort and boss me around, and Kasumi'll just talk to me. P-chan will come around and start fights, and I don't want to have this hurt anymore than it already does!" Ranma had begun to yell. Nabiki backed off a bit. She reanalyzed what she had done to him in the past pair of years, and realized, he had good reason behind fearing her.

And for the life of her, she was tired of people being afraid of her.

"I'll stop. Goodness knows it'll hurt our finances, but we'll squeak by."

"I will not be responsible for what happens to your family. I'll go." Ranma rolled over and began huddling, looking away from Nabiki. Nabiki felt slightly touched. Even now, in his dark hour, he still tried to help her. She smiled. Nabiki moved closer to the shivering boy. When she hugged him, he stiffened. When she kissed the back of his head, he was even more surprised, and nearly bolted. Nabiki backed off when she felt him struggling.

"Good night, Ranma. Sweet dreams." Nabiki pulled the covers around the boy, and she walked out the door, and down the street. Snow was beginning to fall.

Nabiki came home to some odd noises emanating from her house. Not that she was worried in any way. After listening to the sound for a moment, it was the sound of Akane crunching cinderblocks again. She sighed, and stepped in the door.

"Tadaima!"

"Welcome home, Nabiki." Kasumi said, in her ever-pleasant voice. Nabiki sighed again.

"What's got Akane crushing bricks?"

"Well, afterschool she led Ryouga here, to tend to his wounds. She wrapped him up just a little too well. I came in and saw the whole mess, and sent her out while I fixed some of the areas that didn't need bandaging. She stormed out of the room, muttering something about 'a cut that'll last forever'. Personally, anything other than the thin cut on his chest, Ryouga is pretty much fine." Nabiki was beginning to twitch. Her own sister, who _had_ to know Ranma loved her, was here caring for Ryouga of all people.

"Excuse me." Nabiki said, slipping back into her Ice Queen mode. "I have buisness to take care of." Nabiki walked out of the kitchen, and into dojo. She slid the doors open, and caught Akane in the middle of stacking more bricks.

"Heya sis!" Akane sounded very chipper.

"Hello." Akane shivered and looked at her sister worriedly.

"What is it, Nabiki?" she asked. If Nabiki hadn't been in front of the door, Akane would probably have bolted by now.

"Why do I even bother? Have Kasumi and I coddled you so?" Nabiki said. Akane was confused.

"Coddled me? How?"

"Only a coddled child could act the way you do. That you make the rules and that everyone follows them. Ranma has saved you countless times from countless peoples. And you _defend Ryouga_ instead of him. _WHEN RYOUGA WASN'T EVEN HURT?"_ Nabiki knew better than to be yelling, but damn, she was angry.

"Ryouga-kun was too hurt! Ranma cut him all up with that sword thingy of his and - "

"Ranma got one swing in with that thing, and it was a fairly minor, superficial thing. Ryouga broke his arm and bloodied his body." Akane harrumphed.

"About time somebody put his 'higher-than-thou' ass on the floor!" Nabiki was stumped. How could her sister be so stupid?

"Do you believe anything of what you've just said?"

"Yes."

"Then I'm Kicking Ryouga out." Akane's eyes widened.

"You can't-"

"I can and I will. Ryouga is far too destructive and uncontrollable to be dealt with in any other way. When Ranma gets back, Ryouga leaves. And doesn't get to come back until I say so. Are we CRYSTAL clear?" Nabiki was looming over the younger girl with almost an intense an aura as her father's demon head.

"Yes." She squeaked.

"Good. Please, let _me_ see him off the Compound. You'll just put him on the front porch." Nabiki walked away before Akane could speak out against this idea. Nabiki found Ryouga _moving in_ to Ranma's old room.

"Get your stuff off the floor." Nabiki ordered.

"But Akane said - "

"Akane has no bearing on what's going on right now. I am making sure that no harm can come to my family. I am angry with both you and her. Ranma will most likely level the neighborhood he's standing in when he sees you next. I do not want my house involved in this. You are going. Where, I don't care. But see to it that you stay lost." Ryouga had put the last thing back in his bag, and Nabiki grabbed him by the ear and dragged him out into the road in front of the Tendo home. She sighed. Had he complained at all, she would never have gotten rid of him.

A.N. Remember people. I like reviews. Reviews make me write more. If you want to see me write more, then please Review.


	2. Chapter Two

A.N. I thank you all for your kind words. They are a great help to me. If I haven't already done this, I will Disclaim any ownership of Ranma Nibunnoichi, as they are property of Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, Kitty, and a bunch of shareholders. This story will probably be less frequently updated than my other stories, as I usually only write the chapters when I'm angry or depressed. I have four others to work on, and I can only update during weekends, as school prevents me updating quickly.

"Speech"

_Thoughts_

Red Shoe Sunday

Nabiki was dreaming. She was standing on a frozen lake. A thick fog had settled in, and was obscuring everything more than ten feet away from her.

"Nabiki." A voice called to her through the mist. Nabiki moved towards it, shivering.

"Who's there?" The voice gave no reply. She continued to move towards the voice, trying to identify its giver.

"Nabiki." The voice was coming from the other direction now.

_Maybe I passed him._

"Who are you?" She asked. She kept walking, and she tripped over something. When she turned to look at whatever it was. She gasped and -

She woke up.

"GOD DAMN IT! That's the third time this week." Nabiki groaned. Ever since she had talked to Ranma she had been having this dream. She wondered if anything was going to change on Saturday.

Saturday was the first day that she could gather Hiroshi, Daisuke, and Kasumi to go over to Dr. Tofuu's. She and the two boys had to wait until school was over. Since it was about seven, she decided to get up, groggy though she was.

Kasumi was making waffles. She had gotten the recipe from some nice, elderly ladies from down the street that always seemed to be baking something. Kasumi cooked them like she did anything else.

Perfectly.

"Oh! Nabiki, you're up early."

"Yeah. I had that dream again." It took her a couple of minutes, but she managed to get it out.

"Oh. Dear. That's not any good is it?"

"No, it ain't sis." Nabiki said looking for the hot cocoa mix.

"We're out of instant cocoa. You'll need to get your coffee." Kasumi said, not even looking at her sister.

"You heard from Tofuu yet?"

"Oh, yes, Ono called. He said we should all bundle up because his heating's busted." Nabiki frowned. Ranma was still chilling the building.

"Oh. I'll tell Hiroshi and Daisuke."

"Please do." Nabiki had just sit down with her mug and had begun to drink. Akane and the two 'adults' were sleeping in, so now was as good a time as any.

Nabiki dialed the numbers, and called up the two boys. She told them that Tofuu's building was frozen over, and they would need extra coats.

The moment had come. They would try and bring Ranma to a calm state of mind. If that was even possible anymore.

Kasumi shivered. Dr. Tofuu was calm enough to explain the situation to everone. Hiroshi and Daisuke were wide-eyed, and Kasumi had her face in her hands.

"I feel really stupid right now. I mean, Hiro and I know Ranma really well, and we didn't see _this_ coming. He eaten yet?"

"Barely. I took him some Sausage and bacon, along with fresh biscuts. He ate them, but it took him a while." Dr. Tofuu had his eyes on the ground.

"He'll talk. He talked to me, so, he'll probably talk to us." Everyone nodded, and the moved to where the stairs started.

"Before you go, let me tell you this. Do not mention anyone from outside of the school. The night has allowed Ranma to brood. He tried to deck me for even mentioning Ryouga's name. So, please, for your own safety, don't." Dr. Tofuu sounded gravely serious. They nodded.

As they ascended the stairs, they heard a ruffling of sheets and a loud THUD! Nabiki was very worried. She hoped that Tofuu had heard that, because if she was right, an Amazon was probably in the room next to Ranma. Nabiki increased her pace, and everyone followed suit.

Nabiki opened the door. Shampoo was imbedded in the wall. Obviously, she had gotten wind of where Ranma was from someone else. She hadn't let it slip at school. Maybe Akane told her.

Kasumi and Daisuke picked up Shampoo and carried her down to Dr. Tofuu, who, with a loud SNAP, reset her shoulder, and began applying disinfectant to the cuts on her body. She had come ill-prepared for the confrontation in Ranma's room. Cologne came in a few moments later. Daisuke glared at her, and Kasumi promptly left the room.

"Good Lord, Tofuu, haven't you heard of heating?" She asked. Dr. Tofuu turned his head, and nodded.

"Yes Cologne, I have. However, Ranma nearly broke it when he got here."

"Really? Why does he want it so cold."

"Not so much that he wants it that way, but that his body is making it the way he feels - cold and alone."

"And yet, he attacks my Granddaughter when she comes to cheer him up." Dr. Tofuu sighed.

"He is currently incapable of dealing with anyone whom would call themselves his fiance. His heart has been broken, and it needs time to mend away from the normal craziness that he lives in." Cologne looked at her heir.

"Right. When will he be released?"

"I don't know. How often is Shampoo going to try this?" Cologne looked down.

"I see. I will keep her out of your hair. Do not keep Ranma from us too long."

"If all proceeds well, she can be around him in two months, and even then, he maybe a little ... let's call it unresponsive to her advances." Cologne nodded.

"I help as much as I can. He is too good a person to lose." Dr. Tofuu nodded.

"Indeed."

Nabiki and Hiroshi were standing in Ranma's room, looking somewhat ruffled by the events that had just proceeded.

"So. How much she pay you?" Ranma said, his back to them.

"She didn't come to me. I don't know who told her."

"Yeah. Right. Dr. Tofuu would seriously tell them." Ranma had gone into sneering mode.

"No. I did not tell her! I haven't said anything to anyone Dr. Tofuu told me couldn't know."

"How can I believe that?"

"You said you would leave the Dojo if you got out of here. I believed you, though I didn't want it to be true."

"Dude, I don't know much about what the hell's going on, but I do know that you need to get out of here. You'll lose your edge and all that stuff you normally worry about." Ranma didn't respond for a while. Kasumi and Daisuke walk into the room.

"Hello, Ranma."

"Heya Pal." Ranma grunted. He didn't want them to be here, he couldn't deal with the emotions. But they wanted to help. Who was he to refuse them?

"What do you all want?"

"We want you to get better. That's it Ranma. No one's even demanding." Nabiki said, trying her best to keep a straight face. She wanted to let him know that she wasn't trying to hurt him.

"I'm not ready to face them again." Ranma whispered. Kasumi moved over to him. She placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Ranma. Please. We all miss you very much. I miss our conversations at meal time. I want my friend back." Ranma's resolve began to crack.

"Dai and I want to see our friend at some time during the day." Daisuke nodded.

"I ... I ..." Ranma began to tear up. Kasumi and Nabiki moved in, and cradled the boy. Hiroshi and Daisuke passed tissues over when they were asked for.

"I want to know who told you to go see Ranma." Cologne had tied Shampoo to her bed. Shampoo was being fussy on her source of the information. Cologne needed to cut it off before she completely ruined any chance of her getting with Ranma.

"You'll have to tell me. Ranma is in no condition to see anyone other than Kasumi, Nabiki, Hiroshi, or Daisuke." Shampoo pouted.

"Ranma well enough to see Shampoo!" She yelled. Cologne popped her with her cane.

"No, he isn't. Just because his body works, doesn't mean his spirit is well enough to take the strain of your visit. You are not to visit him until Dr. Tofuu gives the OK, and I want to know who told you that he was even there." Cologne was posed in a way that wouldn't yield good results for Shampoo if she continued to be silent.

"Pervert Girl tell Shampoo."

"I see. She really does dislike the boy, doesn't she? Well, now, at least your only competition is the Kuonji girl." Cologne lit her pipe, and began to smoke. She severed the binds on Shampoo, who instantly got up from her spread-eagle position.

"See to it that you let Ranma heal before your next visit. And wear something other than your minidress! Its the middle of winter for crying out loud!"

Hiroshi and Daisuke were gone. Tofuu was out on a house call. It was just Nabiki and her sister. Kasumi was curled up in a chair, asleep.

"Nabiki?" Ranma had started a conversation. He was improving.

"Yes?" Ranma's voice was raspy.

"Would you miss me if I died?" Nabiki quickly hurried over to Ranma.

"Hey, kid, look, getting rejected isn't a good reason to end your life."

"Just answer the damn question." He said, no emotion in his voice, and his head flopping down on the pillow.

"I'd miss you." Ranma smirked.

"Well, at least I know there'll be people there..." Ranma said. Nabiki went rigid.

"You just said-"

"I don't have a choice in the matter. I'm cold Nabiki. When Akane rejected me, it wasn't just _me_. It was all of me. She thinks of me as a freak. As a person, I might have gotten over it, but my mind can't take it. I'm freezing to death Nabiki. And I'm utterly powerless to stop it." Ranma was crying freely at this point.

"You're scared?"

"Like hell I am. I'm terrified. This is the one time in my life that I have been truly helpless." Ranma's head flopped down onto the pillow, and Nabiki quickly moved to see if he was still alive.

Alive with patches of frost on his skin. Nabiki's heart went out to him in that moment. His throat looked like it was being ravaged by a icicle. Nabiki scooted as close as she could.

"What's happening to you?" She asked, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Lady Winter finally got to me." Ranma closed his eyes. Nabiki embraced him.

"Don't you dare Soatome! Don't you dare die on me!" She was almost screaming, but Kasumi still hadn't woken up. With a sudden jerk, Nabiki fell on top of Ranma, soundly unconscious. It almost sounded like the wind was whispering

"Let the games begin."

Nabiki was back out at the frozen lake. The haze was gone. The sky was cloudy, and it was lightly snowing, but she could see now.

"Nabiki!" The voice called to her. It sounded vaguely familiar.

"Who's there!" She shouted back. The voice didn't answer her question, instead opting for,

"Help!" Nabiki moved towards the voice, going slowly.

And what she saw absolutely shocked her. Ranma's face was imbedded in the ice. He smiled, miserably, and closed his eyes. Nabiki began to claw at the ice.

"NO! NO! NO!"

"Do you care for him?" Nabiki whirled on the new voice. Standing before was a stately looking woman, dressed in an elegant blue and white full kimono. In one hand was an icy septer, and he skin was pale white, tinged blue.

"I ask again, do you care for him?" Nabiki gathered her wits, and shouted.

"DID YOU DO THIS TO HIM!" The lady was not moved, and said,

"Time is running out. Do you?" Nabiki stepped back at this. Did she care for Ranma?

"Yes. Yes I do." The woman smiled.

"Then show me. Go to him, and reach out." She started floating backwards.

"But I have!" Nabiki said, giving chase. The woman smiled knowingly.

"You know what I speak of! Wake, now, before he is gone forever!" Nabiki stopped, and ran back to Ranma. The dream ended, and Nabiki looked down at Ranma.

She smiled. There was no witty comment, just action. Nabiki would look back and think that was the most impetuous and rewarding thing she had ever done in her life.

"You did well, Whisper. Is he ready?"

"Of course, my lady. The lad is recovering. His life shall begin to resolve soon."

"Good. It would not do to leave my patron's best guardian in such a terrible position."

A.N.

Thank you all for your positive reviews. I will answer all questions posed by everyone to the best of my ability without ruining the plot.

MingShun - The comment on Ryouga was to make sure Akane didn't complain. Nabiki really wanted the boy out of the house so that her sister and him couldn't get a chance to plot. By themselves, they will fail against Ranma. Together, they have the slightest chance of succeeding.


End file.
